MVNU Cross Country Teams finish Strong at NCCAA Nationals


	MVNU Cross Country Recaps MVNU Cross Country Teams finish Strong at NCCAA Nationals written by Dave Parsons, Sports Information Director Men's Race Results \| Women's Race Results CEDARVILLE, Ohio (11-12-2011) - The Mount Vernon Nazarene University men's and women's cross country teams had a good showing at the NCCAA National Championships on Saturday at Cedarville University's Elvin R. King Cross Country Course. Malone University captured the women's team title with 59 points to edge California Baptist University (75 points) and Indiana Wesleyan University (89 points). Roberts Wesleyan (N.Y.) College (104 points) and Cedarville (140 points) rounded out the top five, while the Lady Cougars posted an impressive 12th-place finish out of 25 teams with 351 points. Hannah Lamos of Cedarville claimed the individual national title as she covered the five-kilometer course in 18:28 to just nip Trinity Christian (Ill.) College's Anna Bos (18:30) by two seconds. Freshman Lincoln Green was the top finisher for MVNU as she placed 40th out of 184 runners in 20:01. Sophomore Ashley Mast (20:38), sophomore Lindsey Minor (20:46), senior Caitlin Edwards (21:33), freshman Becca Haught (21:51), sophomore Alex Reasoner (21:58), and junior Brittany Richter (22:03) rounded out the finishers for the Lady Cougars. "Finishing 12th out of 25 teams on the women's side was a great accomplishment for us today," said MVNU coach Chip Wilson. "We have come a long way with this women's program, and I feel like we are at a turning point in a positive direction for this team. We have a solid group of young runners who ran well again today and beat some of the teams in our conference that we have battled throughout the season. Even though we did not see any personal best times for the women, they all competed well and that shows in our team placing." On the men's side, Malone made it a clean sweep as the Pioneers had five of the first eight places to total 25 points to easily outdistance Cedarville (66 points) and California Baptist (82 points). Spring Arbor (Mich.) University (141 points) and Trinity Christian (193 points) rounded out the top five, and the Cougars finished 15th out of 30 teams with 412 points. Malone's Anthony Migliozzi ran away from the rest of the field to claim the individual national title as he covered the eight-kilometer course in 25:00 to finish 38 seconds ahead of runner-up Kyle Anderson from Spring Arbor (25:38). Sophomore Jace Wolford led MVNU by finishing 46th out of 209 runners in 27:40. Senior Nate Winters (28:16), senior Kevin Poast (28:51), freshman C.J. Larue (29:32), senior Chad Lawver (29:38), junior Mark Rednour (31:45), and junior Jacob Pessia (33:02) rounded out the scoring for the Cougars. "Finishing 15th out of 30 teams on the men's side is another great accomplishment for this team," said Wilson. "As we continue to develop this program, it is a continuous goal for us to make it into the top half in each race and today we accomplished that goal. This group of guys has worked hard this year and their efforts paid off with a solid finish to the season." "We could not have asked for a better day in November to complete our cross country season," Wilson continued. "The wind played a negative role in the finish times for all the runners, but we competed well on both teams and I was proud of the effort of all the MVNU runners. We went into this race very motivated and anxious to race well against a large number of teams from all over the United States. It is fun to race against teams that we never see because of the distance, and running against schools that share the same faith that MVNU stands for is a tremendous blessing." "I went into this race with mixed emotions because of the four seniors who would finish their college racing careers at the end of the race," Wilson added. "I have seen all four of them (Caitlin, Nate, Kevin, and Chad) perform at high levels while growing as solid Christian individuals at MVNU. The leadership I have seen from these four has been a help to me throughout this season. They have left a legacy that I know our younger runners will carry on."

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